Safe or vault



J. H. HOWARD. SAFE 0R VAULT.

(Application led Dec. 9, 1897.)

(No Model.)

Patented Nov. 8, |898.

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NITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

JAMES II. HOWARD, OF MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

SAFE o`R vAu LT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 613,680, dated November 8, 1898.

Application filed December 9, 1897. Serial No. 661,233. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES H. HOWARD, of Medford,in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safes or Vaults, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to safes and vaults; and it has for its object to isolate and protect the boltwork and dogging mechanism' in such a manner as to render these parts, particularly when the invention is applied to vaults, secure even after holes have been burned, by means of the electric arc, through the door or jamb or otherwise formed therein with the object of obtaining access to the locking mechanism.

The invention also has for its obj ect to simplify and cheapen the construction of safes and vaults, while at the same time attaining a great degree of security against attack.

With this and other incidental objects inA view the invention consists in certain features of novelty in construction and arrangement, which I shall now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, Figure 1 represents a horizontal section of the front part of a vault provided with my improvements. Fig. 2 represents a section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 represents aview showing a modification of the bolt-throwing mechanism.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.'

Referring to the drawings, a designates the masonry of the vault, and b the metal casing forming the walls of the inner chamber.

c designates the usual outer door of4 the vault, which may be provided with any suitable form of boltwork and locking mechanism, and d designates the inner vdoor of the vault, which is built up in the usual manner and provided with a hinge d3 and which is locked by means of my improved boltwork.

In safes and vaults as heretofore constructed the boltworkl has usually been located either on the back of the door or in the jambs, being in this latter case projected the present invention, however, the boltwork is located entirely behind the door and jambs,

upper edge.

A single stout plate d is added to the back of the door and securely aiiixed thereto by screw-bolts d2 d2. The space between the edges of this plate and the edges of the door forms a continuous recess or groove to receive the edges of the tongues e c. The tongues are perforated transversely by diagonal slots g3 g3, which are occupied by stationary guidepins g4 g4. The tongues are arranged to slide snugly and smoothly in their guides, and when upward vertical pressure is applied to them they recede diagonally from the door, so as to unlock the same. When the pressure is removed, they return of their own weight.

h h designate two actuating-levers for moving the tongues e e'. The said levers are pivoted at h h to the wall b', and when in the position represented in Fig. 2 their adjacent ends enter the groove between the door d and the back plate d', and hence constitute locking-bolts for the lower edge of the door, and two independent operating-spindles'zl t', eX- tending horizontally through the masonry a and provided outside of the vault with lever= handles t" 'are furnished on their inner ends with cams i2 t2, arranged under the ends of the levers h h. When the handles have the vertical positions indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2, the tongues e e and levers h h are en gaged with the door; but when said handles are moved to the diagonal positions indicated in said ligure the adjacent ends of the levers are depressed and disengaged from the door, while their outer ends are raised by the cams t2 ft2, thereby raising and retracting the lock- IOO l2 eiaes ing-tongues e e and unlocking the door. In the modification illustrated in Fig. 3 the actuating-levers are engaged with each other at their adjacent ends, so that they move in unison and may be operated by a single spindle t'.

k and k designate independent doggin g devices for locking the two tongues e e', these being of any approved or suitable construction and located at the extreme side portions of the vault-chamber.

The clogging devices as here shown consist of two time-locks. The lock k on the lefthand side of the door-opening is provided with a locking-bolt 7a2, which is projected and retracted in a direction parallel to the front wall of the vault by mechanism within the lock-casing and which is locked when in a pro'- jected position against the edge of the locking-tongue e on the left-hand side of the dooropening, thus preventing the retraction of said locking-tongue. The lock k is a timelock operating in a substantially similar manner and. havinga locking-bolt 7e3, which moves transversely of the front wall of the vault and which when projected enters registering apertures in the retaining-plate g and the locking-tongue e on the right-hand side of the door-opening, and thereby prevents the retraction of said locking-tongue.

It will be observed that by means of my improved construction and location of the boltwork the locking-tongues may be extended for substantially the Whole width of the vault and the dogging devices may be located at the farthest point away from the door and when thus located are not accessible through the door. rI`-his means of securing a door in place provides a fastening which cannot be overcome by the use of the electric arc, since holes might be burned entirely through the door, or even through the j ambs, without giving access to the dogging mechanism, whereas when that mechanism is located on the back of the door itself or on the jambs it is usually a comparatively easy matter to burn a hole through the door or j amb and release the clogging mechanism.

Having thus explained the nature of my invention and described a Way of constructing and using the same, although without having attempted to set forth all the forms in which it may be embodied or all the modes of its use, I declare that what I claim isl. A safe or vault comprising jambs surrounding a door-opening, a door, an inner casing having a front wall which projects laterally away from the j ambs, fiat locking tongues or bolts for engaging said door, located behind the front wall and extending laterally beyond the jambs away from the door, and a dogging mechanism located at the extremities of said tongues, away from the door.

2. A safe or vault locking mechanism, comprising fiat locking bolts or tongues adapted to engage the door on three edges and to be disengaged therefrom by vertical pressure applied to said tongues, and actuating-levers engaged with said tongues and adapted to displace the same by vertical pressure, the said levers being also engaged with the door on its fourth edge when the tongues are engaged with said door.

3. A safe or vault locking mechanism, comprising two flat locking tongues or bolts no1- mally engaged with the door on its upperand two vertical edges, two pivoted actuating-levers whose adjacent ends normally engage the lower edge of the door, and whose opposite ends engage the lower ends of the locking-tongues, and means for raising the said opposite ends of the levers to disengage said levers and tongues from the door.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 3d day of December, A. D. 1897.

JAMES I-I. HOWARD.

Witnesses:

A. D. HARRISON, P. W. PEZZETTI. 

